As Jeff Madrick makes clear, the single-minded pursuit of huge personal wealth has been on the rise in the United States since the 1970s, led by a few individuals who argue that self-interest guides society more effectively than community concerns. In telling the stories of these politicians,...

Recent decades have seen a sharp increase in financial competition, intensified by globalisation. Excessive risk-taking leading to inevitable business failures at times reached worrying proportions. A contributing factor arose from the complexities of the derivative and other new markets. This...